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I’m not a liar, I promise. I know that in my croquetas post I mentioned that I hated frying, and I do, but I couldn’t pass this up. Last week I made about 200 gnocchi for A Taste of the Mediterranean; after photographing them, I boiled a quick batch for dinner with some leftover pesto and stashed the remaining 180 in my freezer, in individual servings.

mise en place

The idea for this snack came to me last Thursday at around midnight while studying for my Arabic exam the following day. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know this is not my first craving this week. For some reason, probably having to do with the endless hours I spend studying Arabic grammar, I’ve been craving everything from oatmeal raisin cookies, dates (the edible kinds), to tatter tots. I stopped conjugating irregular verbs for a second and thought about frying up some of the gnocchi I had in my freezer, but I didn’t. Instead I continued conjugating and waited until right after my test Friday afternoon to fulfill my craving. As you could tell from the mise en place photo though, I knew that one bag wasn’t going to be enough that afternoon.

they puff up like pillows

Once you start to plop the gnocchi into the hot oil they immediately begin to puff up like pillows. Fight the urge to nudge them around and you’ll be rewarded with beautiful, golden-brown nuggets of Italian deliciousness. As is my advice with all fried foods, also resist the urge to bite into the ones fresh out of the oil. I, of course, didn’t follow my own advice (again) and am typing this post with a slight tingly pain at the tip of my tongue.

fried gnocchi

I was in no mood to go shopping or do extra cooking after my exam, so I opted for store-bought tomato sauce my roommate (who recently found out she is allergic to tomatoes) had in the fridge. Another sauce that would probably go well with these is the saffron aioli I made back in the day.

note: If you don’t have a thermometer and want to know if your oil is hot enough, stick the back end of a wooden spoon into the oil – if bubbles start to form on the spoon, your oil is ready for frying.

Tony, I’m so glad you found my blog, because that enabled me to find YOUR blog. Love your beautiful photos and clever, unique style. The fried gnocchi look like the exact kind of food I’d never be able to stop eating, something that’s either terrific or extremely worrisome depending on one’s perspective.

Thank you so much for this recipe!
I made a batch of gnocchi yesterday for dinner, using the recipe in your previous post, and today I lightly fried some of the (previously uncooked) leftovers and had them in a salad with some tomato, fresh mint, scallion, and feta – they were every bit as crispy and delicious as you promise! 🙂

you know, most people get snacky when they study because the mental process used burns a much higher amount than regular cognitive activity. i learned that last week in the psych 101 class i am obnoxiously being forced to take.

…a Portuguese owned pastry shop eh, damn where did you grow up? cape cod? the population there is actually azorian, not portuguese, but anyways. nice to meet you, always great to find another ocd culinary blogger who is of the same age and studying everything and anything except food. maybe someday.

Ahh Good boy … you’re studying your Arabic, just a couple of hours ago, i was telling my Hubby i think I’m forgetting whatever i learnt, i need to start brushing up.

The fried Gnoocchi, seems absolutely new and original, the kind of stuff that only come from a artists craving at the 11th hour 🙂 I’m sure this tastes divine , like everything thats fried and not good for you :)) But who can resist 🙂

These gnocchi look delicious! I love the firm, eggy texture of these kinds of gnocchi. They are very different from the gnocchi that I learned to make, which are made from semolina flour and are creamy, melt-in-your-mouth, and not at all gummy. I serve them with parmesan cheese and white pepper. They look like this.http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/786/409391.JPG
There is a recipe in Williams-Sonoma “Essentials of Mediterranean Cooking” that makes a delicious soft semolina gnocchi!

Found your blog on a whim while I was looking for summery recipes for gnocchi, I had some left over from dinner so I fried them up as a late night snack. Amazing! I did find that while frying it’s easier to flip the gnocchi with chopsticks, easier to maneuver.